Named Mount Optimization for Virtual Tape Systems

1. A method comprising: forwarding scratch volumes and named volumes received from a mainframe processor for storage on a plurality of file systems by a plurality of virtual tape engines; creating file lists stored on each of the virtual tape engines which include volume names of the scratch volumes and the named volumes on the plurality of file systems; polling the plurality of file systems by each of the virtual tape engines for changes in the named volumes and the scratch volumes on the file systems; and updating the file lists for each of the plurality of virtual tape engines based upon the changes in the named volumes and the scratch volumes on the file system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: detecting changes in scratch lists by the plurality of virtual tape engines; and updating the file lists when changes are detected in the scratch lists by the plurality of virtual tape engines.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the polling the plurality of file systems for each of the virtual tape engines and the detecting changes in the scratch lists occur simultaneously.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving a mount request for a requested volume name; and searching for the requested volume name in the file lists of the virtual tape engines to determine a location of the requested volume name.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising: determining that the requested volume name is not on any of the file lists; and searching the plurality of file systems for the requested volume name.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising: determining that some of the plurality of virtual tape engines are stalled; and searching the plurality of file systems of the virtual tape engines that are not stalled for the requested volume name.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the polling of the plurality of file systems for each of the virtual tape engines occurs at predetermined intervals of time.

8. A system for emulating operations of a virtual tape system in a main-frame processor comprising: a processor-based system executed on a computer system and configured to: forward scratch volumes and named volumes received from a mainframe processor for storage on a plurality of file systems by a plurality of virtual tape engines; create file lists stored on each of the virtual tape engines which include volume names of the scratch volumes and the named volumes on the plurality of file systems; poll the plurality of file systems by each of the virtual tape engines for changes in the named volumes and the scratch volumes on the file systems; and update the file lists for each of the plurality of virtual tape engines based upon the changes in the named volumes and the scratch volumes on the file system.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the processor-based system is further configured to: detect changes in scratch lists by the plurality of virtual tape engines; and update the file lists when changes are detected in the scratch lists by the plurality of virtual tape engines.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the processor-based system is further configured to: receive a mount request for a requested volume name; and search for the requested volume name in the file lists of the virtual tape engines to determine a location of the requested volume name.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor-based system is further configured to: determining that the requested volume name is not on any of the file lists; and searching the plurality of file systems for the requested volume name.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor-based system is further configured to poll the plurality of file systems for each of the virtual tape engines at predetermined intervals of time.

13. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by one or more processors to implement a method comprising: forwarding scratch volumes and named volumes received from a mainframe processor for storage on a plurality of file systems by a plurality of virtual tape engines; creating file lists stored on each of the virtual tape engines which include volume names of the scratch volumes and the named volumes on the plurality of file systems; polling the plurality of file systems by each of the virtual tape engines for changes in the named volumes and the scratch volumes on the file systems; and updating the file lists for each of the plurality of virtual tape engines based upon the changes in the named volumes and the scratch volumes on the file system.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises: detecting changes in scratch lists by the plurality of virtual tape engines; and updating the file lists when changes are detected in the scratch lists by the plurality of virtual tape engines.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein in the method the polling the plurality of file systems for each of the virtual tape engines and the detecting changes in the scratch lists occur simultaneously.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises: determining that a requested file name is not on the file lists of; and reading a requested data file from a file system where a requested volume is found.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises: receiving a mount request for a requested volume name; and searching for the requested volume name in the file lists of the virtual tape engines to determine a location of the requested volume name.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises: determining that the requested volume name is not on any of the file lists; and searching the plurality of file systems for the requested volume name.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises: determining that some of the plurality of virtual tape engines are stalled; and searching the plurality of file systems of the virtual tape engines that are not stalled for the requested volume name.

20. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein in the method the polling of the plurality of file systems for each of the virtual tape engines occurs at predetermined intervals of time.